Effect of substrate temperature on indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films deposited by jet nebulizer spray pyrolysis and solar cell application S. Marikkannu a , M. Kashif b , N. Sethupathy c , V.S. Vidhya d , Shakkthivel Piraman e , A. Ayeshamariam f,n , M. Bououdina g , Naser M. Ahmed h , M. Jayachandran i a Department of Physics, Arumugam Pillai Seethai Ammal College, Tiruppattur 630211, India b Nano Biochip Research Group, Institute of Nano Electronic Engineering (INEE), Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), 01000 Kangar, Perlis, Malaysia c Department of Physics, Arignar Anna Government Arts College, Namakkal 637002, India d Department of Chemistry, Chendhuran College of Engineering and Technology, Pudukottai 622507, India e Sustainable Energy and Smart Materials Research Laboratory, Department of Nanoscience and Technology, Alagappa University, Karaikudi 630002, India f Department of Physics, Khadir Mohideen College, Adirampattinam 614701, India g Nanotechnology Centre and Department of Physics, University of Bahrain, PO Box 32038, Kingdom of Bahrain h School of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia i Electro Chemical Material Science Division, CSIR, Central Electro Chemical Research Institute, Karaikudi 630006, India article info Keywords: Jet spray pyrolysis ITO Optical properties Current–voltage characteristics Heterojunction solar cell abstract This study focused on the effect of substrate temperature (350 1C, 400 1C, and 450 1C) on morphological, optical, and electrical properties of indium tin oxide (ITO) films deposited onto porous silicon/sodalime glass substrates through jet nebulizer spray pyrolysis for use in heterojunction solar cells. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the formation of pure and single-phase In 2 O 3 for all the deposited films whose crystallinity was enhanced with increasing substrate temperature, as shown by the increasing (222) peak intensity. Morphological observations were conducted using scanning electron microscopy to reveal the formation of continuous dense films composed of nanograins. The UV–vis spectra revealed that the transmittance increased with increasing substrate temperature, reaching a value of over 80% at 450 1C. The photoelectric performance of the solar cell was studied using the I–V curve by illuminating the cell at 100 mW/cm 2 . A high efficiency (η) of 3.325% with I sc and V oc values of 14.8 mA/cm 2 and 0.60 V, respectively, was attained by the ITO solar cell annealed at 450 1C. & 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) are primarily known to be in the form of doped single-cation oxides, such as SnO 2 and In 2 O 3 . TCOs are degenerate semiconduc- tors that are transparent and highly conductive, and thus, are useful in numerous device fabrications. The transpar- ency and conductivity of these oxides are assumed to be caused by one of the combinations of the following factors: deviation of chemical composition from stoichio- metry, doping with another element, and film microstruc- ture (shape and size, grains size and orientation, porosity, Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mssp Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mssp.2014.07.036 1369-8001/& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. n Corresponding author. E-mail address: aismma786@gmail.com (A. Ayeshamariam). Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing 27 (2014) 562–568